Critic Reviews

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95

GamingExcellence

There are a few sore spots to this game but these are ridiculously minor in the face of the positives. If you've been looking for a good platformer that actually holds up and lasts for more than a few hours then this is the game for you. Even after its price jumps up to 1200 points it's still going to be an incredible steal with how much game you get for your money. If I haven't been enough of a raging fanboy then let me say this – buy this game now or we will find your family.

It's impossible to point to just one element that makes Super Meat Boy such an extraordinary game. From the intense-though-always-fair difficulty and the inspired level design, to the pinpoint controls and catchy soundtrack, all of the different aspects converge into something that is truly outstanding. When you hear stories of the unrepentant dangers that stand in your path, it's easy to get intimidated by such a daunting prospect. But don't be. The beauty of Super Meat Boy is that it always plays within the rules, and the smooth difficulty curve gives you plenty of time to become acquainted with everything before the true tests are unleashed. Death is always just one misstep away in Super Meat Boy, but the rush of winning is so supremely rewarding that you won't be able to tear yourself away.

Final recommendation, buy it, with a caveat. Super Meat Boy is not for everyone. Not everyone can handle the difficulty of a game like this, which I’ve heard described as “masocore” (combination of masochist and hardcore). So try the demo before buying. If you don’t like it, don’t buy. If you do, then Super Meat Boy is a hardcore platformer that will make you throw a fit, shout expletives, and make you want to throw your controller, until you then successfully complete a stage and will be thanking god for it. Then you will move onto the next stage and the challenge it offers, and happily start the cycle again.

This is really the essence of Super Meat Boy; knowing exactly what is required of your thumbs, but ever struggling to actually make it happen. The developers have taken the most basic of game mechanics, graphical styles and soundtracks, and used them in a way that just goes to show that quick but simple gameplay can shine through amongst the triple A titles with hugely detailed narrative and elaborate cutscenes. It’s one of those real gems that appears every now and again from the world of indie games, delivering a huge amount of frustratingly fun gameplay. Tons of levels and the added pleasure of beating your friends in online leaderboards make Super Meat Boy a very worthy purchase indeed — you’d be hard pushed to play this one and not have fun. Recommended to all.

Full appreciation of all its charms requires that you have the platformer background to pick up on the Castlevania and Mega Man references, but even the uninitiated can have their socks charmed off by retro graphics, simple animations and brilliant music. A few minor, yet-to-be-patched bugs crawling in the meat can’t spoil its flavor; Super Meat Boy is a delicacy to savor—when you’re not swearing at it.

Super Meat Boy is one of the best modern platformers. It's infuriating, exasperating, and arduous, but it's also delightful, thrilling, and hilarious. The NES games of yore were simultaneously simpler and more challenging than today's games, a quality perfectly emulated here. Invite some friends over and pass the controller around -- you're gonna need all the help you can get.

Overall this is just an indie game and for that reason its never going to be graphically amazing but this game takes me back to the platforming days that were my first experience of gaming in the 90s. The controls are (in my opinion) better for an xbox controller however that is not a massive issue. I must say that I played this game so much that my hands began to hurt for days on end. This takes simplicity to a level of brilliance which is normally only achieved by big budget games. I love games (naturally) being a daylight-fearing gamer and a reviewer but any game that is able to fully capture the imagination of casual to hardcore gamer alike gets a massive thumbs up from me as it ultimately sucks that many more people into the gaming world who might not have found themselves there if they would have tried something more challenging.

Super Meat Boy is a must-have for hardcore platform fans, that almost goes without saying, but it's just too obtusely difficult to recommend to those on the fence or who've not got much experience with the genre. It doesn't matter how many knowing winks, nods or bows you make or how many in-jokes you cram in, if people are bald by the time the 30th level comes along then you’ve gone too far in the wrong direction.